Gettysburg National Park reveals future of its Confederate statues

A spokeswoman for Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, said that it will keep Confederate monuments after a white supremacist terror attack in Charlottesville, Virginia.
(Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images

Despite the decision made by many cities and states across the country to remove Confederate monuments in the wake of last weekend's white supremacist terror attack in Charlottesville, Virginia, one national park said it will not remove any Civil War memorials.

The Hanover Evening Sun in Hanover, Pennsylvania, which is located about 16 miles from Gettysburg National Military Park, reported Tuesday that the Civil War battlefield memorial plans to keep all of its more than 1,325 monuments, markers and plaques in place, including those dedicated to the Confederacy.

"These memorials, erected predominantly in the early and mid-20th century, are an important part of the cultural landscape," Katie Lawhon, spokeswoman for Gettysburg National Military Park, told the Evening Sun.

"The National Park Service is committed to safe guarding these unique and site-specific memorials in perpetuity, while simultaneously interpreting holistically and objectively the actions, motivations and causes of the soldiers and states they commemorate," the National Park Service, which oversees the Gettysburg National Military Park, added on its website, the Patriot-News reported.

The Battle of Gettysburg represented a significant defeat for Confederate forces during the yearslong Civil War.

According to the History Channel, the Union lost more than 23,000 troops at Gettysburg, while the Confederacy lost more than a third of its soldiers — around 28,000 troops.

The terror attack in Charlottesville, Virginia, resulted from the city's effort to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Furthermore, the Council on American Islamic Relations, or CAIR, which is the nation's largest Muslim civil rights organization, called on cities and states across the country to take down Confederate statues and rename roads and highways named for Confederate leaders.

CAIR executive director Nihad Awad told the Daily Caller earlier this week that doing so would be a "fitting response" to Charlottesville.

Editor's note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Gettysburg National Military Park is located in Hanover, Pennsylvania. It is located in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.